Following the Bills 22-19 playoff loss to the Houston Texans quarterback Josh Allen faced the media after a game that simply got away.
“It’s a game we should’ve won, could’ve won,” Allen said. “It sucks. This is a team that fought the entire game. I appreciate how the guys battled today… it’s going to be a long offseason, but we’ll learn from it.”
After coming out firing on offense, in a drive that concluded with Josh Allen catching a touchdown pass from wide receiver John Brown, the Bills offense was held out of the endzone for the remainder of the game.
Thanks to a perfect performance from kicker Stephen Hauschka, the Bills took a 16-0 lead into halftime, but the defense was unable to shutdown the likes of Houston quarterback Deshaun Watston in the second half.
Allen said repeatedly after the game that the offense not converting it’s opportunities was on his shoulders.
“It’s a bitter taste taste… we have to find a way to get six instead of three when we get down there and that’s on me.”
While the Bills season ends in Houston, there is a lot that can be learned from a tough playoff loss like this one and applied to the future.
“I am going to take this into the offseason… let it fuel me and take it from there,” Allen said. “This will hurt and sting for a while, but we’ll move on.”
Part of the Bills success this season has been attributed to the culture head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane are building in Buffalo. That closeness is something Allen feels will help propel them forward.
“I love my teammates, I love the energy they brought today and how they battled… it’s gonna make us hungrier, it sucks that we lost today, but life goes on… I expect this to make us hungrier and come out next year ready to go.”
While it is perfectly normal to feel disappointed in a game that as Allen put it, the Bills could have won, it is also OK to feel optimistic about this team’s future.
With strong leadership in McDermott, close to $90 million in salary cap space for Brandon Beane and several young building blocks in Allen, Tre’Davious White and Tremaine Edmunds (just to name a few,) unlike the last time the Bills made the playoffs, the growth should continue right on into next season. No rebuild, or teardown needed.
While today is undoubtedly painful for Bills fans, it is another step in the process and if Josh Allen and his teammates do indeed use it as fuel, we might all look back on this game one day and point to it as a large part of what ultimately pushed this franchise over the edge.
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